My Baby is Getting Married

Although I am a novice at "Blogging" I am getting the idea of it. I have recently viewed other blogs and spoke with some knowledgeable friends about blogging (Thanks Bill and Steven). I suppose I'll look back at these early postings and smile at my naivete. In actuality, I am still uncertain as to the direction I want to take this blog. Perhaps a diary of my feelings and experiences of life in general (which may be boring) or more a record of my experiences involving hypnosis, teaching or metaphysical subjects (psychic, ESP, mediumship, past lives etc.). At this point I will reduce my stress by planning to attempt to post all of these choices, for at least a little while.

My baby girl is getting married in 3 days, 15 hours and a few odd minutes; 28 years, 9 days and a few hours after the first time I met her. But, these numbers mean nothing. Your age, your income, your SS#, your phone #, your weight, your height... all pointless numbers. What isn't pointless is knowing a person that makes your heart sing each and every time you see them. That is what "it" is all about. Knowing and being with people who can make your heart sing. Usually they don't try or even know what they do to make you feel that way and that is perhaps why your heart sings so loudly in their presence.

I remember when she was born as if it were yesterday. Being our second child, I was not nearly as stressed as I was when her older brother was born. Now THAT was not a fun experience for me and a whole lot worse for my wife. His was a 20 hour posterior birth marathon. I am surprised that my wife was even willing to have another child, but I am so appreciative that she chose to. My daughter's birth was a easy as her middle name... Joy. Her middle name pretty much sums up my experience with my daughter... a joy.
From the first time she said "Da-da", to her smile that lit up her face and everyone around, to the pain and concern of seeing her off to Kindergarten, to the "Joy" of having her run to the door and jump into my arms after a hard day's work, to the pride we felt seeing her acting and singing in school plays, to the mixed emotions of meeting her "first date" after being pleaded with not to embarrass her, to the heart wrenching feeling of missing her after dropping her off in North Carolina after an 8 hour drive at Elon University and wanting to stay with her to be the overly protective father I was so used to being, to the happiness and pride in seeing her graduate, to the fatigue in helping her move to her apartment, to being introduced to her boyfriend who she told me in confidence, would be "The One"... the love for a daughter simply grows. And then last August, just before her birthday, this very nice young man, asked my wife and I, while sitting at our kitchen table, "I would like to have your permission to marry your daughter" and we were overjoyed. We realized that our family just grew by one. But... Where did the time go? My daughter is engaged to be married! It's so corny, but the song from "Fiddler on the Roof" rings through my head... "Is this... the little girl I carried... Sunrise, Sunset... Sunrise, Sunset... Swiftly fly the years" I never truly appreciated the truth of that song/play; where has the time gone? So, in about 87 hours from now I will walk the Joy of my life down the aisle; but who's counting. I can't guarantee that I won't be a little (lot) teary eyed (crying my eyes out), but I know they will be tears of... JOY!

Your "Path"

Everyone has their own path. This sounds like a very simple statement; a "yeah, sure, so what else is new", sort of statement. But it is not at all simple. What is a path anyway and do you know, first... that you are, in fact, on one and secondly where it will take you? Every time you ask a question like that; "where is the path you are on taking you" and the answer comes from where ever answers come from, you are inevitably going to ask more and more questions. Why is there a path anyway? Does everyone have a path? Are paths different for each person? Can I fall off my path? Who decided that I should be on this (my) path? and on and on...
Our path begins when we are born. Or does it? Perhaps our paths are formed before we are born and we decide to go down this path or that path... to learn along the way.
Lots and lots of questions. And that is what we are all here for... to ask questions, to get answers (from others or ourselves) to learn and then... to ask more questions.
I said in the summer of 2003 at a week long Past Life Regression workshop run by Dr. Brian Weiss at The Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in Rhinebeck NY that my life's path had changed. I "saw the light" I realized what I wanted to do (at 53). I wanted to take everyone I knew "into the light" with me on my path. I tried to convert every family member and friend to my new way of thinking and believing and tried to take them with me down my path. The more I pulled the more they resisted. The more energy I expended draging them towards my path, the more they expended resisting. I realized that although I completely believe in this, my new view of what life is all about, no one has the right to force anyone else onto their path. I plan to be writing more on paths, just one more thing... You never change the path you are on for a different path. Your path doesn't change it simply expands to incorporate new beliefs and understandings...
But then again, that's just my opinion :)

First Posting

Hi and welcome to my blog. This is all new to me and to be honest, I have never even been on a blog before, but I believe that the purpose of life is to learn as much as you can, so here I am starting a blog and learning as I go.On this blog, I will be posting interesting facts about hypnosis, hypnotherapy, the subconscious and more. I am in the process of writing a book and plan to use parts of my book as articles I plan on posting. I will also be posting my experiences with more "New Age" and metaphysical topics that will include ESP, psychic development, mediumship, the soul, Past Life Regression Therapy and many other areas that you may be interested in. It is absolutely NOT my intention to try to convince you that my view of what life is like is the right and only correct view or that you should believe what I do. Actually I believe in the opposite, that we all must find our own way or "path" in this world. If what I post makes you uncomfortable, I apologize in advance. My intent is to suggest to you that we all need to challenge our beliefs even those that include religion, in order to grow. No one has the right to tell you what you should believe, only you know what resonates as truth in your own soul. If it feels right, if it makes sense, if it feels truthful to you then believe. Keep your healthy skepticism... not cynicism. Cynics believe only what they have always believed in, even when presented with irrefutable evidence that they may be wrong. Skeptics may be difficult to convince, but they are open to new truths.If you have come to my blog through my website http://www.hyp4life.com/ , you hopefully have a lot of questions about the information found there. You can contact me thru the site or post a comment and as soon as I figure out how, I'll reply. I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks to Wayne and Steven for helping me set up my site.